Light Heavyweight Boxer Mike Lee Remains Undefeated

SportsMoney
I do Q&A's with pro athletes and cover sports, sports business

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 03: Mike Lee (r) beats Mike Snider at the Resorts World Casino on June 03, 2016. (Photo by Edward Diller/Getty Images)

Last night light heavyweight Mike Lee extended his career-long undefeated streak to 21-0, by beating Jose Hernandez in a unanimous decision in a highly-touted fight at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.

A few weeks prior to fight night, I spoke with Lee about his Chicago roots and some of the challenges he's faced as an athlete. Lee started his pro career in a debut bout at Chicago's UIC Pavilion back in May 2010, and has sailed ever since.

"Both my parents came from inner-city Chicago, but Wheaton, where I spent most of my childhood, was a great place to grow up. Being from such a great place is an important part of my life." Lee, who now lives and trains in Los Angeles, tells Forbes, "I got started at a very young age, and I was always an athlete. I loved to hit and be aggressive."

Lee also said that his foray into the sport came as a result of an incident that occurred when he was only 8 years old, not in boxing, but as a hockey player.

"I was a goalie, and even at a young age I was passionate and probably a little physical in protecting the puck." Lee said that after one particularity competitive game an altercation instigated by an opposing player ended up changing the course of his life. "We were in a line at the end of the matchup, both teams saying 'good game'. Then out of nowhere one of the kids from the other team actually spit in my face."

Lee said that what ensued was, to say the least, a little pushing and shoving. What happened next wasn't so much a punishment. A few days later Lee's father took him to a boxing gym. There, his older cousin, who had trained in youth boxing himslef, showed the young Lee a thing or two.

"Part of this was just my dad taking me there to let me blow off steam." But Lee, now 30, says that during this "first visit to the ring" he was mesmerized by the footwork, intensity and the commitment level of the men in boxing gloves training there. Later, close to his 16th birthday, he would return to the Windy City Gym not to blow off steam, but to take up the sport as a serious boxer. After high school graduation Lee spent a year at the University of Missouri before transferring to Notre Dame, where he would maintain a 3.8 GPA but also stick with boxing. There, without a Notre Dame intercollegiate boxing team, Lee boxed with Bengal Bouts, a club affiliated with the university, that hosts an annual tournament.

Boxer Mike Lee throws out a ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs in Chicago, Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Right around the time that Lee finished up at Notre Dame, he turned down offers to work on Wall Street in order to pursue boxing professionally. Adrenaline and the goal of winning a world boxing championship are part of what drew him. Lee also says that one of the most exciting parts of the sport today is boxing's increasing level of competition, and the mix of skills and mindset needed to be at the top of the pack.

"In the 1980s and '90s I think people saw some of the preeminent boxers of the day and perceived it as a game made up of big blows and huge hits," Lee says. "But today boxing is more game of inches, and in my training, I try to perfect every one of my skills."

Invisible pains, big triumphs

But it isn't just the rigor of constant conditioning makes boxing a hard slog. Last fall Lee wrote a piece for The Player's Tribune, in which he revealed to sports fans that he has a disease called ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Lee says his condition is similar to rheumatoid arthritis and causes inflammation, fatigue, and pain on a daily basis.

"It's kind of an invisible pain. If you looked at me you couldn't tell," Lee said of his AS. "Fighting through this disease and constantly trying to turn over rocks is something that I've done for the past few years." Lee says that the disease kept him "out of the ring for a good two years", and that it took a string of visits to specialists for it to be accurately diagnosed.

Since his diagnosis four years ago, Lee says that being on the right medication and therapy helps greatly, but that it still does pose a constant challenge. "It's really pushed me mentally and physically."

Another big thing that motivates Lee is his work with children. Earlier this year Lee spearheaded an effort to raise money for a 7-year-old Chicago boy named Taveon, who is battling cancer. Teaming up with Family Reach, an organization that provides assistance to families with a child or parent afflicted with cancer, Lee and a large number of small donors were able to raise over $10,000 to keep Taveon and his family from being evicted from their apartment.

Ranked number 3 by the WBO, Lee continues to knock down all foreseeable competition in boxing. But he says he always has Taveon and the other children he has worked with in the back of his mind.